The reports that Olympic sprinter Favour Ofili has allegedly reverted to Turkey are disheartening, according to the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).
However, it made it clear that she would continue to be a beacon of hope in the nation’s athletics.
According to a statement signed by the AFN’s President, Chief Tonobok Okowa, on Sunday, “he and his newly elected board read and heard her desire to change nationality, just like every other sports-loving person in Nigeria, on the continent, and beyond that”
“If this is accurate, it is depressing, painful, and disheartening,” but World Athletics (WA) has not yet provided her with any correspondence. She has a lot of potential, it continued.
Less than three months before the Tokyo World Athletics Championships in 2025, Ofili reportedly reaffirmed his allegiance to Turkiye.
Jamaica-based journalist Kayon Raynor made the report public on his X handle late on Saturday.
Ofili was denied 100m Spot at the Paris 2016 Games because of a string of enraged tweets that referenced the AFN’s administrative mistakes and both organizations’ reliability.
“I have worked this opportunity for four years. What is it for? Don’t believe this is over because you guys are doing it because this isn’t your style, Ofili wrote on X, a former Twitter account.
However, Okowa claims that since the mistake at the Tokyo Olympics, she has made it difficult to reach any kind of truce.
Okowa stated that Favor Ofili already received her training grant for this year.
The AFN President added that they have worked to address the issue that his first administration raised during his administration’s work.
The former board and the sports ministry, in collaboration with the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC), had planned and carried out the preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. We continued to grow the entire situation and the Games. Look at the tests that the AFN carried out while I was in charge.
There were no doping violations or similar things, he said, “We funded 60% of the tests conducted before the Paris Games.”
It’s also obvious that she has been working and preparing for her newfound Turkish love, the statement continued. Although it’s painful and difficult for us to accept her, she is still our daughter, sister, and child, despite the fact that she is old enough to make the decision.
“We regret this depressing development to Nigerians, the National Sports Commission, and the millions of people who hold the sport and nation in high regard.”
She “shunned the national trials” on numerous occasions, and even when she came, she chose the events she would like to take part in.
She ran in the heats at the 2024 African Championships in Cameroon, claiming that the organisers had not set the ideal environment for competition. Additionally, she did not attend Accra, Ghana’s final African Games.
Ofili is undoubtedly one of our athletes’ best performers in recent memory, but she has a lot of issues.
The AFN has its problems, but we are still flourishing within the system and getting along with other elite athletes. We wish her every success, no matter where she is going or what she does.
Source: Channels TV
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